North Atlantic right whales, a species of just 356 known animals, are on the decline (again) due to climate change: An analysis of data on plankton, oceanic conditions and whale sightings, published Wednesday in the journal Oceanography, showed that the whales abandoned their traditional feeding grounds in the Gulf of Maine in 2010, the same year … Continue reading Treats on the Internets

A Swiss animal welfare organization is suing the Olympic International Committee over the treatment of horses during the equestrian competition in Tokyo. One horse was punched by a coach after refusing to jump, another was bleeding from the nose while being ridden and a third was euthanized after a fall. Midwestern Pet Foods appears to … Continue reading Treats on the Internets

Former Stanford microbiologist and current CEO of pet food company Because Animals, Shannon Falconer wanted a way to feed her dogs and cats meat without harming animals. The company is bringing clean meat to the pet market, including mouse treats for cats: The treats are made with mouse tissue grown from stem cells in a … Continue reading Treats on the Internets

Stock photo of a bat, via Pexels Wind turbines are lethal to bats and birds. And it isn't really known just how lethal: On wind farms, a patchwork of federal, state, and local regulations might govern how companies have to monitor wildlife deaths, but reporting requirements vary widely. This means that reliable data on deaths … Continue reading Treats on the Internets

An article in The Guardian follows six British cats, including the author's, with GPS collars to see where they go when they're not at home. Although the owners expressed concern about the cats' safety and welfare, none changed to keeping their cats strictly indoors after tracking their movements across train tracks, busy streets and other … Continue reading Treats on the Internets

Probably all of us have seen pleas from rescue groups along the lines of "Rover has been living at the sanctuary for X-hundred days - let's get him adopted." And yet, rescues seem to turn down so many potential adopters for so many reasons. It seems like when we try to talk about the subject, … Continue reading Treats on the Internets

The city of Mobile, Alabama adopted a tethering ordinance in February. In June, a neighbor called animal control to a home where a dog called Pebbles was tied to two trees. The animal control officer reportedly visited the home and left. The next day, the neighbor observed that Pebbles was dead on her tether, apparently … Continue reading Treats on the Internets

Researchers studying the heart rates of animals in order to better understand their emotional states have made some fascinating observations: The heart rate of animals increases rapidly when they have aggressive encounters such as fights, and decreases during friendly interactions such as grooming. For example, in greylag geese, the mean heart rate during aggressive interactions increases … Continue reading Treats on the Internets

Florida's Indian River lagoon is home to dozens of endangered and threatened species, including manatees who feed on the seagrass. The lagoon has been in decline for years due to development, septic systems, storm water runoff, algae blooms blocking sunlight from the water and warming temperatures from climate change. Over the past ten years, 58% … Continue reading Treats on the Internets

The Indus River dolphin (Platanista gangetica minor) is found only in the middle and lower areas of the Indus River in Pakistan. Functionally blind and an endangered species, the last population survey in 2019 found just 1419 dolphins. Men from an area village recently captured a dolphin calf from a stream, bagged him, then carried … Continue reading Treats on the Internets